


this love came back to me

by nataliecastle



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-04-12
Packaged: 2018-03-22 14:31:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3732382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nataliecastle/pseuds/nataliecastle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You can't keep running away," Rory manages to get out when he starts to back away from her. He freezes in place. "At Weston's, at Andrew's, last year, and now...again." Jess opens his mouth and immediately closes it again, eliciting a scoff from Rory. "You always do this."</p><p>Alternatively, what might have happened if Jess didn't leave after telling Rory he loves her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this love came back to me

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not used to writing in present tense and I thought I'd try it out, but there might be some mistakes. My first Literati fic, yay! This uses a mix of stuff from season 4 and my own original dialogue and I skipped over a lot of stuff that happened in between the "I love you" ep and the season finale, so. Yeah. Happy reading!

"I get to leave first!" Rory shouts at him, immediately starting to run away.

"Rory, wait! Stop!" he calls after her, beginning to chase after her.

"No, you don't get to walk away!"

"Hold on!"

"My town! I leave!"

"I just wanna--where are you going?" They keep weaving through the crowd of people as they run through the streets.

"None of your business!"

"We look like idiots," he tells her.

"I don't care!"

"Stop running!"

"Stop following!" she returns.

"Oh, come on!"

"Go away, I'm leaving!"

"Rory, stop!"

"Why?"

"Because I wanna talk to you." He finally catches up to her and she stops and turns to face him.

"About what? What do you want to talk to me about?"

"When did you learn to run like that?" he asks breathlessly.

"You know, I have actually thought about this moment. A lot. What would Jess say to me if I ever saw him again? I mean, he just took off, no note, no call, nothing, how could he explain that? And then a year goes by. No word, _nothing_ , so he couldn't possibly have a good excuse for that, right?" She knows she's rambling but she can't stop. After waiting a year to get this out, she needs to do it, especially since she wasn't sure she'd ever have the chance. "I have imagined _hundreds_ of different scenarios with a hundred different great last parting lines, and I have to tell you that I am actually very curious to see which way this is going to go."

"Could we sit down?" he asks quietly.

"No. You wanted to talk, so talk. What do you have to say to me?"

He pauses for a moment. _"She is over you. She has moved on and she is very happy."_ Lorelai's loathing voice plays in his head at the furious look on Rory's face.

And he shouldn't say it. He shouldn't. "I love you." She stares at him in silence and that's it; it's over.

"You can't keep running away," Rory manages to get out when he starts to back away from her. He freezes in place. "At Weston's, at Andrew's, last year, and now...again." Jess opens his mouth and immediately closes it again, eliciting a scoff from Rory. "You always do this."

"I thought--come on, you at least have to know why I left."

"No, I don't! Because there was no explanation, there was no goodbye. There never is with you."

"Rory," he starts, taking a step towards her. "Let me explain then."

She moves backwards, crossing her arms. "I can't keep doing this."

"I've had a lot of time to think since I left, please just--can we talk?"

Rory shrugs. "What else is there to say?" Her mind is still reeling from his proclamation, but there is a part of her that wants to know the truth.

"Oh, I think it's pretty clear you still have a lot to say."

She smiles lightly in spite of herself. "Fine, yes, but just talking."

"Okay."

***

"I'm sorry," is the first thing that comes out of Jess' mouth when they reach the bridge. Rory sits down with her feet dangling above the water and doesn't respond. The moon is shining on the water and Jess stares for a moment before speaking. "It was just too much." He takes a deep breath. "I couldn't graduate, I couldn't take you to prom, I couldn't meet your grandmother without getting beaked by a swan beforehand and looking like I got into a fight--"

"What?"

He continued on. "You couldn't count on me, I couldn't do anything you wanted. I couldn't do anything you deserved. And you deserve everything."

"Jess..."

He sits down beside her. "I was so messed up about everything - I mean I still am - and then Jimmy showed up and I didn't want to end up like him, yet that's exactly what I did. I bolted."

Rory idly wonders if she's ever heard him talk this much at once. "You're not like him. Not if you don't want to be."

"I don't."

"Okay then."

Both of them are silent for a moment. "I shouldn't have yelled at you."

"What?"

"At that party," he explains.

"Oh."

"I was such a dick to you, I just didn't want to lose you. I knew Luke would kick me out because I couldn't graduate. I found out that day when I was trying to buy tickets for prom and I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to disappoint you. Again. I think I was trying to hold on to you and I thought...I don't know what I thought. I just--I wouldn't have forced you into anything."

"I know," she says gently.

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"I wasn't thinking straight that night and that doesn't make it okay or anything, I was..." He shakes his head.

"I wish I'd known."

"I should've told you." He sighs. "I should've done a lot of things. Screwing up is in my nature, I guess. Apple doesn't fall too far from the tree," he says darkly.

"You're not a screw up."

"Whatever you say, Dr. Gilmore."

She rolls her eyes. "You're not. And I messed up too, you know. I should've tried harder to help you."

"You did everything you could."

"I expected too much. It wasn't fair." From his silence, she assumes he doesn't disagree. "I'm sorry, too."

"It's okay. You still treated me way better than I treated you."

"That's not true," Rory says defensively. Jess narrows his eyes at her reaction. "I know people thought you treated me like dirt, but you didn't."

"At the party though..."

"Okay, towards the end, you weren't boyfriend of the year and I don't know, I just assumed it was my fault."

"Why?"

She hadn't really thought about it before, but the explanation came easily to her. "I guess...with Dean, I always felt so awful when I made him mad, even if he was mad over something stupid. Somehow I always got blamed for everything that went wrong."

"That Dean's a real winner, huh?"

"Well, maybe he's different with Lindsay."

"They're still together?"

She nods. "Married."

His jaw drops. "Married? Jeez, only in this town..." he mutters. "How old are they?"

"I know, I thought the same thing. They got engaged before you left, I guess."

He winces. "Right."

"I didn't go to the wedding though. Too weird."

"Definitely weird."

"We're still friends. I guess." Jess simply nods and while they're both quiet, Rory works up ther nerve to ask the question weighing on her mind. "Did you mean it?"

"What?"

"Tonight. When you said--when you said you love me. Did you mean it?"

"Yeah. I probably shouldn't have said it like that, but..."

"Oh, you mean dropping the bomb and running?"

"I'm sorry," he started again.

"I'm just teasing. Sort of."

"I'm not great at expressing my feelings and whatever, you know that obviously. But since we're being so honest tonight, I do. I love you, Rory."

And suddenly she's kissing him, like nothing has changed, like they were never apart. As soon as his hands are on her waist, she pulls away. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Rory says breathlessly.

"Why not?" he asks, voice rough.

She stands up and runs her hands through her hair. "This is the first time we've spoken in a _year_. God, how do you still have this effect on me?"

"Rory, I'm not asking you to take me back. I know you don't...maybe we could just be friends."

"Friends," she repeats.

"Yeah. We've been friends before."

"Aren't you leaving town?"

He shrugs. "Don't have anywhere else I have to be right now."

"Friends don't stupidly kiss their friends like I just did, do they?"

Jess swallows around the lump in his throat. "No, they, don't."

"We can...try. I want to try."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

***

"So you cut your hair."

She touches the ends of her hair. "Yeah."

"I like it. Suits you."

"Thanks. Felt like I needed a change."

He nods, completely understanding that feeling.

***

They're still sitting on the bridge when she remembers something he said in his whole speech. "Jess?"

He looks over at her. "Hmm?"

"How did you get beaked by a swan?"

"Oh, jeez."

***

"Hey, kid, where have you been?" Lorelai asks when they get back to the festival. "You missed it, Kirk--"

And then she sees Jess, who's shifting uncomfortably behind Rory. "Um, we were just talking," Rory tells her after a moment.

"Talking. Right," Lorelai says coolly, eyes fixed on Jess.

"I think I'm gonna go."

"Oh, great, bye!"

"Mom, stop," Rory pleads.

"I'll see you later," he says to Rory before disappearing into the crowd.

"Later?" Lorelai asks. Rory looks away. "What's going on?"

"We decided to try to be friends."

"Rory--"

"Mom, please," Rory interrupted. "I know what you're gonna say, okay? And you're wrong."

"After everything he did to you..."

"It's different, okay? He's different."

***

"Hey, Tom, is my mom here?"

"I haven't seen her," he answers. "She could be inside. She sometimes slips in the back door, likes to surprise a bunch of guys with nail guns."

"Thanks." She walks inside the inn, looking around. "Mom?"

Dean approaches her. "Rory. Hey."

"Do you know where my mom is?" she asks.

"No, did you check outside?"

"Yeah, I did. She's not there. She's not at home. She's not anywhere."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just--I can't find her. I have to go."

***

Jess looks up after putting the garbage bags in the bin to see Rory heading in his direction. "Hey."

"Have you seen my mom?"

"No, why?"

"I've looked everywhere, I don't know what to do."

"Rory, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."'

"C'mere," he murmurs, leading her to the front steps of the diner.

"Everything's falling apart," she says, voice breaking. "I thought I had it all under control, but I don't.

"What do you mean?"

"Everybody else can handle the classes, but I can't. And I'm supposed to. I'm supposed to take five classes. Everybody else does. I mean, my grandfather did." She sighs. "God, how am I gonna tell my grandfather that I failed? Well, I didn't even get a chance to fail. I mean--I had to drop a class. I was told to drop a class." She sniffs. "I'm not supposed to drop a class. I'm not the drop-a-class person. I get good grades. I…handle things. And Lane, she's not around anymore, and I--I know she had to go, but I miss her, and I liked her there, and I haven't talked to my mom, and I need to talk to her, and she's not around. And I'm failing. I'm failing everything. I can't do it. I can't handle it. I'm messing everything up!"

Jess rests a hand on the small of her back as she starts to sob and she puts her head in her hands. "You're not a failure," he tells her.

"Yes, I am. I just can't, I--I need to talk to my mom 'cause I just don't know what to do."

She looks up at him and buries her face in his neck. "It's okay."

***

"Hi."

"Hi."

"Are you...how are you?"

"I'm better. Thank you for last night."

He shrugs. "That's what I'm here for."

"Well, I'm glad you're here."

"So am I. Sticking around...it's been good. Though I don't think I want to be working at Luke's for the rest of my life. I'm definitely not the diner guy."

She grins. "What about Wal-Mart?"

He pretends to gag. "No thank you."

Giggling, Rory sits down at the counter and he smiles at her as if they're still seventeen and in love. Well. He's still in love anyway.

She orders a large coffee to-go, an idea forming in her mind to help him get on track.

***

"You could get your GED," Rory says when she walks into the diner Sunday morning. Jess is behind the counter, a book in hand, because business few people are at the diner while church is going on.

"What?"

"I know you don't want to go back to school, but you could get your GED! I did all this research, see?" she says excitedly, waving around the papers in her hand. She set them on the counter and started going through the bullet points. "So there are four parts: math, science, social studies, and language arts. And the whole test takes over seven hours which probably seems daunting, but you'll have months to study and practice! And I can help you, I would love to help you if you want me to."

"You didn't have to do this," Jess says.

"Oh. I mean, you don't have to do it. It was just a thought," she says, starting to take the papers away.

He puts his hand on hers to stop her. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. This was...really great of you. I just don't know if I can do it."

"I do."

***

"How long are you gonna do this?" Luke asks after Rory leaves, the two of them having finished another study session to prepare for the GED exam.

"Don't know what you mean, Uncle Luke," Jess replies, already absorbed in his book.

"I mean Rory."

Jess sighs. "What about her?"

"Are you gonna tell her how you feel?"

"Already did."

"I mean now that you're on good terms with each other," Luke says.

"What's the point?"

"She's here every weekend she comes home. She helps you study, makes you schedules, helps you in more ways than I ever could and you don't think she feels the same?"

Jess finally looks up. "No. I don't. I don't think she feels the same. She moved on so I just have to deal with it." Luke sighs. "And you're the last person to be lecturing me on not telling someone how I feel."

With no good response, Luke stalks out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

***

"So you and Jess," Paris starts.

"What?"

"Are you guys back together?"

"What? No!"

Paris cocks her head. "You're constantly talking about him, you see him all the time..."

"We're friends!" Rory says defensively.

"I saw the way you were with him before."

"Paris, that was high school. It's different now."

She shrugs. "Doesn't seem that different to me. You get this goofy look on your face every time you talk about him."

"I do not!"

Paris just smiles smugly. "Keep telling yourself that."

***

"Whatever happened to that boyfriend of yours?" Louise asks.

"Who, Jess?"

"No."

"Oh, Dean."

"Hmm, wonder why you've got Jess on the brain," Paris says.

"Paris, please."

"Wait, who is Jess?" Madeline wonders.

"Um, I guess you never met him."

"Bad boy with a heart of gold," Paris informs them. "And very smart."

"He break your heart or something?" Louise asks.

Rory looks down. "Yeah, he did. We're friends now though."

"Yes, you are. Cell phone friends," Madeline says, Rory's phone in hand.

"You have your ex-boyfriend's number in your cell phone?" Louise asks.

"I told you we were friends."

"First loves are very intense," she says.

"Well, he wasn't my first love," Rory starts to say.

"My mom's still in love with her first love. She tells my father that over and over and... oops, I think I just dialed his number."

"Madeline, no!" Rory exclaims, trying to grab her phone away.

"Oh, my God, it's ringing!"

"Hang up!" Rory insists.

"It's his voice mail. Oh, sexy voice. Oops, I think it's gonna...it beeped!" She hands the phone back to Rory. "Talk."

"Jess. Hi." She laughs nervously. "It's Rory. I'm sorry to call you like this, but we're on spring break...and, um, I know you don't know Madeline and Louise, but they're evil, and we were just talking about you. Um, hi. How are you?" The other girls snicker loudly. "I'm gonna hang up now, so bye. Sorry, goodbye." As soon as she hangs up, she says to Madeline, "I'm going to kill you! Oh, my God, I'm so gonna kill you! It's going to be bad and death-like, and...I'm gonna go for a walk because this punch is starting to live up to its name."

"I'll go with you," says Paris.

"Don't move because I'm going to come back to kill you," Rory tells her.

"We'll be here," Madeline laughs.

***

"I got your message," Jess says over the phone.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Sounds like you had a very interesting time."

"Interesting. Yes, definitely. Paris and I stayed in and watched The Power of Myth the first night and when we ran into Madeline and Louise, we drank a lot of punch which was definitely a bad idea."

He laughs. "I bet you're a fun drunk."

"I don't hold my liquor well," she admitted. "Paris and I threw up after I hung up."

"Why did you call me?"

"I--they asked about my old boyfriend and they didn't know anything about you, and then the combination of Madeline and alcohol...you know."

"Huh."

She rolled her eyes at the fact that he was monosyllabic as always. "Sorry if it was weird."

"Not weird. Just unexpected."

"Don't you know by now that I'm just wild and unpredictable?"

"Oh yeah, you never know what Rory Gilmore is gonna do next," he teased.

"Exactly."

"I should probably get back to work. Talk later?"

"Of course. Bye Jess."

"Bye Rory."

***

"My mom's getting married again," he tells her in the middle of a study session.

"Really? How do you feel about that?"

"I don't know, T.J. is alright, I guess. Kind of...how do I put this? Simpleminded. At least he's not giving her drugs or hitting her. Better than a lot of the other guys."

She stares at him. "Her boyfriends hit her?"

He nods. "Or me."

"I'm--I'm sorry. God, I don't know what to say."

"It's okay. It was better me than her."

"But didn't she do anything?" Rory asks.

"Hard to do anything when you're high out of your mind."

"Oh."

"You don't need to like, feel bad for me. It is what it is."

"But that's horrible."

He doesn't disagree. "Well, she and I are both doing better for ourselves, I guess."

***

"What is it with you?" Jess asks when Luke walks in to the apartment with a big smile on his face.

Luke picks up the tape player and books, proceeding to give them to Jess. "Here. I'm done with them. Enjoy." Jess skims at the titles of the books, things like, "You're Not Alone" and "You Deserve Love". He rolls his eyes, but turns off the TV and begins to read anyway.

***

"Rory, you've had quite the dry spell this year," says Paris.

"I have not had a dry spell."

"There's not one picture of you with a guy."

"Oh, no. No. There's one. See? That's Rory with the statue of Eli Yale," Tana points out.

"People are gonna talk," Paris tells her.

"I don't care what people say. Are people talking?"

"Not that I've heard. You just don't get out enough."

"All work and no play makes Jack..." Rory glares.

"Say goodbye before you leave?" she says to Tana.

"Will do."

Rory and Paris go into their room and Rory says, "Since when are you someone who defines a girl by whether or not she's with a guy? I mean, you embarrassed me in front of Tana and Chester."

"Please. They were singing the lumberjack song at the top of their lungs. They're embarrassment-proof. But really, maybe if you weren't spending all your time in Stars Hollow with Jess..."

"I'm helping him out," Rory reminds her.

"Or maybe if you would just go out with him like you obviously want to."

"I don't," Rory insists.

"Okay, fine, you don't. If you don't want to go out with Jess, then here." Paris hands Rory a piece of paper.

"What's this? Leonard Fleming?"

"Asher's son. He's a terrific guy - good looking, runs a mutual fund, newly divorced, and on the hunt."

"I don't think so."

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. He is one hot apple, juicy to the core."

"I got it. Nice, hot apple."

"I just want you to be happy," Paris tells her.

"Please, don't feel sorry for me. I'm fine."

"I don't want you to have a long, dry summer."

"Please stop talking about my love life," Rory says.

"Fine. Wish me a merry trip to jolly old England."

"Have a merry trip."

"And hey, if you call Leonard and one of his kids answers, hang up. They still think Mommy's coming back."

***

"So, uh, the plans for tonight - they're pretty casual. There'll be about ten of us. You're totally welcome to come," Graham tells her.

"I was just gonna go home, but, I don't know, maybe."

"We're gonna get some food, hang out. I'll leave you my cell phone number. You got a piece of paper?"

"Um...yeah." She finds one and hands it to him

"Great." He reads it. "Leonard Fleming."

"Ignore that."

"Maybe I'll see you later."

She smiles politely. "Yeah."

"Enjoy your lemonade."

She thinks maybe if she goes out with this guy, it will help her get over Jess, and maybe even put an end to this dry spell.

***

"Hello?"

"Can you come get me?" says Rory on the other line.

"Are you okay?" Jess asks immediately.

"I'm fine. Just--" She didn't want to tell him she had been on a date-type thing. "My grandma set me up with one of her friend's grandsons and we went out with his friends. I don't have any way to get home and I didn't know who else to call."

"Where are you? I'll be right there."

***

"Jess."

"Hey," he murmurs, sitting across from her.

"I'm so sorry to make you do this."

"It's alright," he assures her.

"God, tonight was awful."

"Oh, yeah?"

"I mean, he asks me to hang out with his friends and I thought to myself, 'he seems nice and it'll please Grandma so why not?' So it was this whole big group of people, and they were all drinking in the car, smoking. And I just thought, 'These are, maybe, the last people on earth that I would want to die in a car crash with.'"

Jess laughs. "Well, I'm glad you called me."

She looks at him sheepishly. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

"Not at all."

***

"Thank you again," she says when they get to her dorm after dinner.

"It really wasn't a big deal. It's not that far."

"22.8 miles," she says quietly. Why does she remember that so distinctly?

"What?"

"Nothing." Jess gives her a look and she sighs. "You looked it up, okay? When we were dating, you looked up how far away Yale is from Stars Hollow, because you and I both thought we would still be together when I went to school."

"I remember."

She shakes her head. "You drove here from the pub without directions. How did you even know how to get here? You've never been here before." He doesn't respond, mind racing for an excuse. "Jess?"

"I've driven out here to see you about a million times in the past three months," he confesses, eyes downcast.

Confusion is written all over Rory's face as she tries to process this information. "I don't understand. You came to see me without actually coming to see me?"

He rubs the back of his neck before looking up at her. "I wanted to tell you I still love you. More than I did when I first realized it, more than I did when I knew I loved you so much that I had to leave because you were better off without me, more than I did at that stupid festival three months ago. I didn't want to screw up our friendship. I don't want to screw up our friendship. But it's out there. I love you."

He exhales loudly, not usually one for speaking that much. "Are you done?"

An indignant look crosses his face. "Yeah, I--" He doesn't get to finish because Rory immediately flings her arms around his neck and kisses him.

"I love you," she whispers against his lips, so quiet like she wants it to be theirs and only theirs. He kisses her again, arms encircling her waist, the two of them pressed together in the dark hallway. "Come inside," she says, reaching for the doorknob with a teasing smile.

Jess shakes his head. "I don't think I should."

She stops in her tracks. "You don't want to."

"Not like this."

She nods, feeling a little stupid for suggesting it in the heat of the moment. "Okay. Not like this." She moves forward and takes his hands, the way she did when they first almost kissed in Luke's apartment, and Jess smiles at her, that smile that he's only ever reserved for her, and she thinks this might just work.

***

Jess has never understood how Rory - perfect, kind, brilliant Rory - wanted him in the first place. He knows he's smart, incredibly so, but he was such a sarcastic asshole through the duration of their relationship. Somehow, Rory saw past that. It seems she still does.

Staying in Stars Hollow really has been good for him. He's finally gotten what he wants and he smiles at her, knowing that as long as she wants him, he's not going to let her go again.

***

"Hey, you hungry?" Lane asks.

"I'm starving."

"Well, your timing is perfect, 'cause I went to the store yesterday."

Lane starts pulling up floorboards and Rory says, "Are you kidding me? You just got away from the floorboard life."

"Boys will eat everything. I bought vanilla-almond body lotion the other day," she starts.

"No."

"On chips - mine, by the way."

She returns to her seat with food in hand. "So, I kissed Jess last night."

Lane stares. "You've been here 20 minutes, and you drop this now?"

"It just sort of happened."

"Tell me everything."

"Well--"

"Wait!" Lane pulls out a chip. "Go."

"I got home from this awful setup."

"The guy your grandmother brought by?"

"That's the one."

"He was that bad?"

"James Spader in Pretty in Pink."

"You could have just stopped at James Spader."

"Anyway, I called Jess to pick me up and he came and I explained the whole situation and he just...I didn't always feel like I could depend on him when were together, and now, I mean, he was there right away when I needed him."

"Aw," Lane says, putting one hand over her heart. "So then what happened?" she prompted.

"Well, we went back to my dorm and he drove us back without even asking for directions and I asked him how he knew how to get there. And he told me he'd driven there multiple times to tell me he was still in love with me, but he never went through with it."

"Oh my God!" Lane exclaims giddily.

Rory smiles. "I know. And he made this whole speech about how he loves me even more than he did three months ago and he didn't want to risk our friendship and then I kissed him."

"Oh my God! And you're happy about this?"

"Very." Lane grins and bounces in her seat. "I kind of..."

"What?"

"I kind of tried to get him to come inside, so we could, you know..."

"Oh my God!"

"Jeez, Lane, is that all you know how to say?" Rory asks with a smile. "Anyway, he said he didn't want it to happen like that. He wants me to be as sure about him as he is about me."

"Are you?"

"Yes," she says emphatically.

"Have you told Lorelai?"

Her eyes widen. "About sex with Jess?"

"That you're back together."

"Well, no. Things are so crazy right now with the inn and everything."

"Tell her," Lane insists. "The sooner the better."

***

"Mom, I have to tell you something."

"Okay, sweetie, I'll help you hide the body, but I can't lie in court. You know what happened when I had to do that deposition for my mother. Ugh." She shudders.

"Mom, seriously. Sit down," Rory says, gesturing to the chair next to her at the kitchen table.

"You're freaking me out, kid."

"I kissed Jess," she blurts out.

"You--when?"

"After I went out with that guy Grandma set me up with?"

"That was three days ago. I asked you about that date!"

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you."

Lorelai nods slowly. "Well, are you happy?"

"I am."

"Okay then."

"You're handling this surprisingly well," Rory notes.

"Well, I have to admit Jess does seem different. I was wondering why he's been so oddly chipper recently."

Rory blushes. "Um, there's something else." Lorelai gestures for her to go on. "When he and I were together before, you told me to tell you before, you know, anything happens."

"Has it?" Lorelai asks quickly.

"No, but it might."

"It might," she repeats.

"Probably, if I'm being honest."

"Big step."

"I know."

"Wow, well, if you're sure and you're safe..."

"I'm completely sure."

"You trust him?"

"I do."

"Do you love him?"

"So much. I know this is weird for you, but I wanted you to know."

"Hey, I'm glad you told me. And I'm just happy you're happy."

***

"Your mom said she sent you on an errand."

"I'm just trying to find some CDs for the Dragonfly."

"How about some Metallica?" he suggests.

She rolls her eyes and smiles fondly. "I don't think so."

"Okay." And then he pulls her in and kisses her, lips moving down her neck, leaving Rory breathless just like when she was seventeen. She's suddenly very aware that they're alone in the house and Lorelai will be entertaining her guests at the inn for hours.

Rory pulls Jess into her room and tugs off his jacket, letting it fall to the floor. He pauses to look at her and she nods. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. Are you?"

"Absolutely," he murmurs, brushing his lips against hers again. And then they're falling onto her bed together, kissing each other hard.

***

"Rory! Oh my God. You're missing everything. Grab those CDs and head back to the inn before you miss the cross-dressing midgets. That's where the night is headed. Oh, things are happening - big things, wow things. I have so much to tell you. Let me just open with this little tidbit: Kirk running naked through the square. Of course, with all my careful planning and preparation, I forgot to bring Band-aids and a camera. I have got to learn that, always, without fail, Kirk equals camera." Lorelai runs back downstairs to find Rory standing in the kitchen. "Hey, what's going on?" she asks just as Jess comes out of Rory's bedroom.

"Jess came over and uh--"

"I was helping her pick CDs."

Lorelai smiles. "We're not playing Metallica at my inn."

"Oh, I know you're a classy joint." She nods, setting down the Band-aids. "Anyway, I should probably be heading back over. Luke still up?"

She looks startled when Jess says his name. "Luke. Uh. Yeah, I think so."

"Cool. Well, congratulations on everything," he tells Lorelai.

Turning to Rory, he says. "We'll talk later?"

"Of course."

He kisses her on the cheek and starts to head towards the back door. "Your shirt isn't properly buttoned," Lorelai calls after him. "You might wanna fix that." He stops and looks down to see all the buttons are off by one. "Bye, Jess!" she says cheerfully. After he leaves, Lorelai glances inside Rory's bedroom to see the messed up bed. "You didn't spend a lot of time looking for music, huh?"

"Not exactly," Rory admits.

"Right. Well, how do you feel?"

"Weird," Rory says honestly. "But good weird."

"Yeah? You're okay?"

"I'm okay, and we were, you know, safe. So all those Trojan man jokes all these years really apparently stuck."

"Babe, it's okay, you don't need to feel nervous talking to me about it," Lorelai tells her. She smiles and Rory asks her what's so funny. "I just always thought Jess was a phase, and now you're all sappy and in love."

Rory blushes. "You're one to talk."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You and Luke."

Lorelai gasps. "How did you know?"

"Because you've been crashing into things every time you've seen him the past week."

Lorelai frowns. "Oh. Right."

"Mom? Is there something else?"

"Okay, fine, we kind of kissed."

Rory squeals. "What? When?"

"Tonight, before Kirk interrupted with one of his night terrors and everything went into chaos. Speaking of, we should be getting back."

"But I want details!" Rory pouts.

"Later, kid, I promise."

"Okay." Rory nudges her mom and grins. "We've found pretty good ones, haven't we?"

Lorelai smiles back at her. "Yeah, we have."

**Author's Note:**

> Just so y'all know, I don't think having sex=happy ending; I just didn't want to continue into season 5. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Also come say hi on tumblr at feministemo where i have a tagged/this-love-came-back-to me


End file.
